In the ex-Soviet Republic of Belarus, against the background of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, its own military activities are increasing. "Now we have received all the weapons we should have received from the Ministry of Defense and have stored them in the armories," said the head of the Belarusian civil defense, Vadim Sinyavsky, on state television on Sunday. At the same time, units were formed that could be used together with the military "to defend the fatherland," Sinjawski assured.
At the same time, the senior official spoke of around 5,000 underground facilities that could be used as bomb shelters in Belarus. The Belarusian border guard meanwhile announced that it had strengthened its units at the border "because of the increased reconnaissance activities in Ukraine".
Russia had previously sent the first of a total of 9,000 soldiers for a joint force to Belarus on Sunday. Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko announced last Monday that he was setting up a joint regional force with Russia. In view of the rising tensions, it should protect the Belarusian border.
Lukashenko continues to deny his own plans to attack Ukraine. Rather, Minsk claims that NATO and Ukraine are planning an attack. Tensions have risen in recent weeks after Russian planes resumed bombing Ukraine from Belarusian territory. At the beginning of the war, the Russian military used Belarusian territory as a deployment base for the attack on Ukraine. Belarus is considered Russia's closest partner - and was one of five countries in the UN General Assembly to speak out against condemning the Russian attack.
Russia has used Belarus as a staging area for the war against Ukraine and is also launching airstrikes on Ukrainian targets from there. Military observers have so far considered it unlikely that Belarus will intervene in the war. This unpopular step could also shake Lukashenko's position of power in the country. On the other hand, a Russian-Belarusian deployment on the border ties up Ukrainian forces, which are then absent in the east and south of the attacked country.
